March 1: Boy pulled from St. Louis Park pool dies

A 12-year-old boy who was pulled out of a St. Louis Park Middle School swimming pool Thursday morning following a physical education class died early Saturday.

“The St. Louis Park Police Department has been notified that the student passed away overnight,” Jamie Zwilling, spokesman for the city of St. Louis Park, said in a statement.

An autopsy is being handled by the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office, and an investigator said there was no one on duty Saturday with authority to release the identity of the boy.

The school district also declined to identify the student, saying in a statement: “The family and public officials have requested that we not identify the student by name nor discuss the incident publicly, and we are honoring those requests.”

Counselors and social workers will be at St. Louis Park schools to support students, families and staff as needed, the district said.

Class had just ended Thursday morning and the students were in the locker room when the teacher returned to the pool and noticed the seventh-grader in the deep end shortly before 9 a.m., Zwilling said. The teacher jumped in, pulled the student out and began CPR. The student was unconscious and not breathing at the time, he said.

A police resource officer also responded and 911 was called.

St. Louis Park police and fire responders continued CPR until Hennepin County paramedics arrived.

“During that time, the student was unconscious and there was no sign of breathing,” Zwilling said.

The student was taken to Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, where “there was a pulse detected so they transferred him to St. Paul Children’s Hospital.”

That was the last update until St. Louis Park police were notified that the youth had died, Zwilling said.

Zwilling said the St. Louis Park police were investigating, but he said he had been told that it might be days before information about the circumstances of the drowning are made public.